Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Making Different Zombies Part 1

Earlier in the week, I showed off my first four Studio Miniatures Zombies that I have completed. While I do really like the miniatures- they are cheap (which is awesome) and are still characterful and interesting. They have a heap of bits on the sprues (8 heads for 4 models, plus 5 or 6 sets of arms) which is the thing about plastic kits that I love (aside from being cheap).

However, there are only four sculpts. And while I have had a lot of fun with the first four, and the next four (which should be finished soon!), I am aware that by the time I get to Studio Miniatures plastics Zombie #37 I am very aware that I will become a bit bored, and will want some variety in my Zombie horde.

I had a bolt of inspiration when I remembered that I have boxes of the Wargames Factory Zombies and Survivors, which I could combine together to add some variety into my Zombie hordes. So with that in mind, I set about making my first couple of "special" Zombies:

The Male Zombie on the left has his body from the Wargames Factory male survivor boxed set, and arms and head from my spares from Studio Miniatures.

The Female Zombie on the right has her body from the Wargames Factory female survivor boxed set, arms from the my spare Studio Miniatures sprues and a head from the Wargames Factory Zombie Vixens boxed set.

I chose to use the Studio Miniatures Zombies for parts because I think that they are more detailed than the Wargames Factory models, as well as being a bit bulkier- the Wargames Factory Zeds (especially the Vixens) must have been malnourished before they turned- their arms are tiny! Or maybe it is just because I am just so used to more "heroic scale" miniatures. And actually, they fit really well with the Wargames Factory bodies- I had to do a minimum of cutting, and no green stuff work. Although not all the survivors will be as neat, it should be a reasonably easy conversion for most of them.

Anyway, this is how the first of the two special Zombies came out:

I am particularly happy with how the female zombie looks, I think my biggest critique of the Wargames Factory Zombie Vixens (other than the spindly-ness) is that they are a bit... stereotypical B-movie-type women. While that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I like to think some women would be turned into Z's wearing something other than bikinis and evening gowns! This Zombie is dressed oh so practically, which clearly didn't help when a zombie bit her in the head.

Ouch.

This is the size comparison between the Studio Miniatures zombies and my converted zombie:

The male one is on the painting table now, along side the next batch of 4 Studio Miniatures Zeds. I have decided that Friday will be the day to post the new Survivor, so check back for her then! (Yes the next one is another girl). I have just ordered some more survivors from Crooked Dice too, so I will definitely need more Zombies for them to fight!